Agritubel’s Brice Feillu attacked his daylong breakaway companions to a stage win atop the hors catégorie Andorre Arcalis, as Astana’s Alberto Contador rocketed away from the main group to put time into his rivals for the overall. Rinaldo Nocentini (Ag2r), who joined Feillu in the day’s big breakaway, held on to finish in between Feillu and Contador to take the yellow jersey.

Astana drove the peloton for most of the day, setting up Contador to rocket off the front and eventually finish 19 seconds ahead of a select group of contenders that included teammates Levi Leipheimer and Lance Armstrong as well as Cadel Evans (Silence-Lotto) and the Garmin-Slipstream duo of Christian Vande Velde and Bradley Wiggins. In doing so, Contador moved into second place in the overall standings, with Armstrong and Leipheimer immediately behind him in the general classification.

Stage 7, the longest day in this year’s Tour, was a 224km trek from Barcelona to Arcalis ski area in Andorra. It was also the first mountaintop finish of this year’s Tour. Beginning at sea level and finishing at 2,240m (7,349 feet).

2009 TdF, stage 7: Feillu got the stage win, Nocentini got the jersey, but Contador was the most impressive.

Photo: Agence France Presse

With five categorized climbs, it finished on the Andorre Arcalis, a 10.6km climb with an average grade of 7.1 percent that comes after a long, false flat.

Astana in pole position

Soon after the stage got underway, three riders struck out on the attack, and were quickly joined by six others. Given a long leash, their lead ballooned up to over 14 minutes over the peloton. None of the riders in the break was a threat to the general classification. The break contained Jose Ivan Gutierrez (Caisse d’Epargne), Egoi Martinez (Euskaltel), Christophe Riblon (Ag2r), Rinaldo Nocentini (Ag2r), Aleksandr Kuschynski (Liquigas), Christophe Kern (Cofidis), Jerome Pineau (Quick Step), Brice Feillu (Agritubel) and Johannes Frohlinger (Milram).

Nocentini was the best-placed rider on GC – in 32nd, at 3:13 – a fact that became increasingly important as the escapees’ advantage grew throughout the day.

Although Astana technically did not hold the overall race lead, the team rode as if it did with its full squad singlefile on the front. For most of the day, the team didn’t string it out at full gas, simply rode tempo. The bunch seemed happy to sit in and enjoy the relative calm.

Stage 8, from Andorre-la-Vieille to Saint-Girons, is a 176.5km trek over three categorized climbs, but unlike stage 7, actually loses total elevation, going from 1213m at the start to 425m at the finish.

Few expected Fabian Cancellara to hold the jersey up the HC climb to the finish. However no one expected he would be back in the cars of the caravan so early — due to flat tires. He had to stop twice for assistance before chasing back on.

Racing through the town of Andorre-La-Vieille, there was a crash as the peloton reformed around a roundabout. It took out Levi Leipheimer, Mark Cavendish, Tom Boonen and a few others. No one seemed seriously hurt, and all were up and back into the peloton soon.

When the group hit the base of the long climb up to Andorre Arcalis, things began to sort out. The day’s efforts began to wear on the breakaway riders, and Kuschynski soon popped off.

Astana continued to ride the front, but still at tempo, with the pack all the way across the road. With four of the top five general classification spots, Astana held the dominant position — they didn’t need to attack, only follow.

As the peloton worked its way up the climb, riders began popping out the back, including Astana’s Sergio Paulinho, his work done for the day.

Astana’s Haimar Zubeldia then Yaroslav Popovych led the main group up the climb, with Armstrong sitting comfortably in third wheel and Contador right behind.

Up in the breakway with 7.5km to go, Ag2r’s Christophe Riblon kicked off a flurry of attacks, as the riders abandoned collective work and began thinking about the stage win. Agritubel’s Feillu threw himself off the front of the group, now down to five riders, and held a gap of a few seconds.

Behind, big Cancellara succumbed to gravity and was spit out of the peloton.

2009 TdF, stage 7: The day’s 9-man break formed early … and all but one of them held off the peloton.

With about 2km to go, Evans threw down an attack and strung out the main group, spitting many more out. Within seconds, Armstrong clawed his way right to Evans’ wheel, and Astana again swarmed the front.

After a few flurries, Contador took a sharp dig, accelerating on the steeps like only he can. Saxo Bank’s Andy Schleck took up the chase with only six of men able to follow. Under the 1km kit, Garmin’s Bradley Wiggins attacked, and Evans countered.

Across the line, Contador had put 21 seconds on his chasers. In doing so, he moved into second overall — and sent a message to the world.